Housework Shouldn’t Be a Gender Role

Emma’s comic illustrates the difference in housework between men and women. What I found to be true was the part in the comic where she talks about the father not knowing where to buy the child's clothes at or what to feed them. Through my observations of the world around me I can confirm that typically, fathers are clueless and don't know basic things about their child like shoe size, what they like to eat or anything along those lines. Typically, mother are the ones who takes charge and buys the child's clothes or cooks meals. Fathers do not make it their responsibility to know these things since things are already handled by the mother. I don't ever remember a time in my life when my father cooked for me as a child. Mainly because he never bothered to even learn since his whole life he had his mother cook for him and then my mother replaced her when they got married. And I'm sure he´s not the first or the last man to not have to go through that burden of housework.

Even when men do housework, they are praised for the little efforts they’ve made while women never get praised because it is what is expected of them. For instance, consider the scenario of a couple and their newborn. Because taking care of children has always been a job associated with women, many people will be amazed when a man helps out. I’ve overheard other mothers say things like “wow your husband changes diapers? Lucky you.” They’ll praise men for helping out which seems bizarre in that this child doesn't only belong to the mother but to him too. So, it shouldn’t even be considered helping out but rather doing his job as a father.

Emma emphasizes that these ideas of chores are presented in childhood and reinforced by gender. Girls are given dolls to play with because we associate taking care of something with being nurturing. And since motherhood is so closely associated with being a woman, these toys reinstate the idea that this is something little girls should strive for when they grow up. You will never see a little boy with a baby doll because that type of behavior is discouraged in our society since the very idea of a doll is to prepare girls for their future. Thus, society has come to the conclusion that boys should not play with dolls since it is not their responsibility to nurture.

I definitely think this way of thinking stems from the American Dream of the 1950s where the father’s only priority was his job and the mothers would stay home, watch after the kids, go food shopping, clean the house, and have supper ready by the time the father came home. This is a very toxic ideology to put on women if men aren't going to put in their share of the work.

How can we as a society stop the stigma of chores as being a woman’s job? Do men behave in the same manner if they’re living on their own?

-- works cited --

Emma. “You Should’ve Asked.” Emma (blog), May 20, 2017. https://english.emmaclit.com/2017/05/20/you-shouldve-asked/.